New ADP research shows small business staff feel the least secure of any workforce. Kylie Baullo explains why that’s a retention risk.
Australia’s job market looks steady on paper. Unemployment is low. Hiring hasn’t collapsed. But new research suggests the people actually doing the work don’t feel that way at all.
Only one in four Australian employees believe their job is safe from elimination, according to the first chapter of ADP Research’s People at Work 2026 report, based on a global survey of more than 39,000 workers across 36 countries.
Workers aged 18 to 26 reported the lowest confidence, with only 18% saying they felt secure in their role. Those aged 27 to 39 were the most confident, at 29%.
“Australia’s labour market continues to demonstrate resilience, with employment growth remaining steady and unemployment relatively low. Yet our research paints a different picture of how workers are feeling,” said Kylie Baullo, General Manager for Australia, New Zealand and Japan at ADP.
For small business owners, the finding worth sitting with is this: employees at smaller organisations report the least confidence in their job security of any employer-size bracket, lower than staff at both medium and large companies. That’s a difficult number for SMEs already stretched thin on hiring and retention.
The type of work someone does shapes how secure they feel too, and not always in ways that track with actual risk. Knowledge workers reported the highest confidence, at 35%. Skilled task workers sat at 20%, and repetitive task workers at 19%. ADP’s research suggests anxiety over job security is particularly acute among lower-paid repetitive task workers and people lower down the management hierarchy.
None of this is just a sentiment problem. ADP’s data ties job security directly to performance. Workers who feel secure are six times more likely to be fully engaged, and 3.3 times more likely to report high productivity.
“Job security has become a business issue, not just a workforce sentiment measure,” said Dr Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP. “When employees feel confident about their future with an organisation, they are more likely to stay committed, perform at their best and contribute more effectively.”
Baullo said the fix isn’t complicated, but it does take deliberate effort. “As AI continues to reshape how work gets done, Australian employers have an opportunity to build confidence by clearly communicating how roles are evolving and investing in the skills employees need to adapt,” she said. “Organisations that prioritise continuous learning and give employees greater visibility into future career opportunities will be better placed to retain talent, improve engagement and build a more resilient workforce.”
For SME owners, that’s a fairly direct instruction. You don’t need a formal AI strategy document to make a dent in this. You need to actually tell your team what’s changing and why, before they fill in the blanks themselves.
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